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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson gives an interview to The Associated Press at the agency's headquarters in Washington on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. (Associated Press)

Congress demands EPA’s secret email accounts

A House committee has launched an investigation into whether EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used an email alias to try to hide correspondence from open-government requests and her agency's own internal watchdog — something that Republican lawmakers said could run afoul of the law.

November 17, 2012
Rep. Allen B. West (AP photo)

Judge denies West’s recount bid in bitter Florida race

A Florida judge on Friday denied Republican Rep. Allen West's plea for a full recount of early voting ballots in St. Lucie County, saying he didn't have authority to grant the request, according to the Palm Beach Post.

November 16, 2012
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, followed by fellow California Democrat Rep. Grace Napolitano, emerges from a closed caucus meeting Wednesday as lawmakers try to avoid a “fiscal cliff.” (Associated Press)

Leaders on Hill ready to bargain on taxes

Top congressional leaders of both parties, eager to avoid the "fiscal cliff," are beginning to show signs of willingness to compromise on the thorny issue of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans as they prepare to meet President Obama on Friday at the White House.

November 15, 2012
** FILE ** This Oct. 4, 2011, photo shows Rep. Allen West, Florida Republican, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

GOP leaders back West’s call for recount

State and national Republican Party officials are getting behind Rep. Allen B. West's call for a recount of all early votes in St. Lucie County, Fla., saying it would be "unconscionable" not to answer lingering questions about the results, which show the outspoken GOP lawmaker trailing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy.

November 15, 2012
** FILE ** This Oct. 4, 2011, photo shows Rep. Allen West, Florida Republican, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

Early votes in West’s Florida race being recounted

Florida's secretary of state dispatched auditors Wednesday to try to get to the bottom of voting irregularities in St. Lucie County, where Rep. Allen B. West trails in vote-counting after last week's election but says there are too many questions for him to concede.

November 14, 2012
President Obama answers a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama, GOP clash on Benghazi, Rice

An angry President Obama on Wednesday demanded his congressional critics "go after me" rather than snipe at his top aides, after two top Republican senators said U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice's inaccurate account of the cause of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi makes her unfit to be promoted.

November 14, 2012
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, is congratulated by House congresswomen, as she announces that she will stay on at that post at the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Pelosi wants to remain House minority leader

Underscoring just how little has changed despite last week's elections, both chambers of Congress are poised to re-elect the same people to lead them into next year.

November 14, 2012
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi introduces newly elected Democratic members of the House on Tuesday. She said it would not be “a good thing for our country for us to go over the cliff.” (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Lawmakers urge compromise, but refuse to budge from ‘cliff’

Republicans and Democrats returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday pledging to try to reach common ground — but as each side reinforced its pre-election battle lines, last week's results appear to have shifted little other than the rhetoric.

November 13, 2012
Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, California Republican

Congress jumps on Libya inquiry

President Obama survived the election without having to answer many key questions about the September terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, but getting through the lame-duck session of Congress that opens Tuesday could be even tougher — especially with one key senator already talking about the possibility of subpoenas.

November 12, 2012
Just after 6am, voters make their way into the polling station at Washington Mill Elementary School in Fairfax, Va., on November 6, 2012. (Eva Russo/ Special to The Washington Times)

Policies seen through partisan prism, study finds

Many Americans have blind spots when it comes to how well they know recent controversial policies, and Democrats are in the dark more than Republicans, according to a new comprehensive survey of voters by NORC at the University of Chicago.

November 11, 2012
**FILE** Sen. Lindsey Graham (left), South Carolina Republican, confers Oct. 3, 2011, with Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, following a vote that clears the way for debate on a bill that would impose tariffs on Chinese imports as a penalty for currency manipulation on Capitol Hill. (Associated Press)

Schumer, Graham resurrect bipartisan immigration reform

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, co-authors of a stalled bipartisan comprehensive immigration overhaul that includes a "path to citizenship" for the country's estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants, said Sunday that Tuesday's election results have created a new impetus for reforms.

November 11, 2012
House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, calls on a reporter Nov. 9, 2012, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

Boehner faces backlash on immigration overture

House Speaker John A. Boehner's overture to Democrats and President Obama on immigration reform is already drawing fire from within the GOP, where lawmakers say he's writing checks that his fellow House Republicans won't cash for him.

November 9, 2012
“The reason is very simple: You’re going to delay relief. The quicker you do relief, the cheaper,” says Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, on why adding the cost for recovery from Superstorm Sandy to the federal deficit is a necessity. (Associated Press)

Schumer: Put cost of superstorm on U.S. tab

New York's senior senator said Thursday that Congress likely will need to pass an emergency spending bill to help the recovery effort from Superstorm Sandy, and he said that money should be tacked onto the deficit.

November 8, 2012
Speaker of the House John Boehner, Ohio Republican, talks at the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 7, 2012, about the elections and the unfinished business of Congress. (Associated Press)

Boehner opens door to ‘comprehensive’ immigration

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that his chamber will try to make progress on "comprehensive" immigration reform — a nod to the growing power of Hispanics, but a move that could produce a bloody battle within his own party, depending on how far he pushes his troops.

November 8, 2012
** FILE ** Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican. (Associated Press)

Fiscal cliff forecast: Bad now, worse later

As Congress prepares to try to negotiate ways to avoid the fiscal cliff, its own scorekeeper has some stark analysis: There will be pain no matter what, but ducking choices now will mean an even worse situation by the end of the decade.

November 8, 2012
Charlene Gomez leads an orientation seminar for illegal immigrants in Los Angeles. Schools and consulates have been flooded with requests for documents since the Obama administration earlier this year said many young illegal immigrants may be eligible for two-year renewable work permits. (Associated Press)

Democrats see strengthened hand on pushing immigration

The election has strengthened President Obama's hand on immigration, and Dream Act organizers said it likely means a flood of hundreds of thousands of new applications for his nondeportation policy — but it's not clear that anything has changed in the decade-long stalemate in Congress on the issue.

November 7, 2012
House Speaker John A. Boehner says the GOP will make a deal to let the government collect more tax revenue. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

‘Fiscal cliff’ nudges deal-making talk

House Speaker John A. Boehner offered the first olive branch Wednesday in what is expected to be a frenetic spate of postelection deal-making to avert the looming "fiscal cliff," saying the GOP will let the government collect more tax revenue if President Obama will drop his plan to raise tax rates on the wealthy.

November 7, 2012
House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, walks through the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 7, 2012, before speaking with reporters about the fiscal cliff and the need for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs, which he says is critical to solving the national debt. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

Boehner: GOP willing to accept new tax revenue

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that Republicans are "willing to accept new revenue" coming to the federal government as part of a new debt deal, offering an early olive branch in the aftermath of Tuesday's election.

November 7, 2012